Several of the skeletons stood in a line around the doorway. They were the only ones armed with bows. One by one they loosed an arrow and casually, almost lazily, readied another.
Juliana, peeking around as well, readied her own attacks. She lined up pointed stones at each of the skeletons and waited to fire.
Arachne ignored almost all of the skeletons unless they dared to get close to her. Lacking fear instincts, most of the skeletons in the room dared. They all were turned to dust by uncaring backhands. She kept her focus on a pile of skeletons.
The thing she fought had at least eight skulls, as many rib cages, and more limbs than Eva could count. Arachne tore into it, breaking bones and throwing limbs across the room. The thing didn’t care. Whole bones would fly off the ground to replace missing parts.
Arachne didn’t appear to be losing either. Two arrows stuck out of her chest but she didn’t even notice. The skeletons swarming her weren’t able to do more than scratch her chitin. Even the ones carrying swords barely got a moment of attention before being knocked away.
Eva pulled back from the doorway. She gave a small nod to Juliana who returned the nod.
Snapping her fingers, the shield vanished. Juliana’s attacks launched away.
Eva reset the shield, adding an extra half a vial to the core at the same time.
All but two of the stone shards struck their targets. Before the skeletons could crumple to the ground, Juliana had conjured two more stones. She lined them up, ready to attack.
Eva pointed up at the ceiling. “Any chance you could hit those guys? They’re still staring at us.”
“I thought they didn’t matter.”
“Yes, well…” Eva glanced back to her master.
Devon sat on the cot. The deeper part of his wound–the inside of his hand–turned an ugly green. The skin around it reddened and cracked. His fingers on his good hand danced with green flame. He seemed to be considering burning the wound with his demonic fire.
Eva shook her head, leaving her master to take care of himself. “The one who thought that is indisposed at the moment.”
Juliana’s face blanched at her own glance at Devon. She turned back to the skeletons and readied another six shards. “Can’t hurt anything I suppose.”
Leaning back inside, Eva brought down the shield long enough for Juliana to fire.
The archers were down. For now at least. Another skeleton started picking up one of the bows. Eva sent a tiny splattering of Arachne’s blood rocketing at it before Juliana peeked around the corner. She snapped her fingers and the bow cracked where it had been hit.
Arachne had changed tactics. The demon had grown to her full size and was laying waste to the bundle of skeletons. That still didn’t seem to be fast enough to counteract its healing.
The attentions of the rest of the skeletons had turned away from her. Either the destruction of the archers or Arachne’s new size made them advance on the small hole in the wall.
“Can’t you tunnel us out?”
“Maybe,” the blond replied as she readied a whole line of earth shards. “Maybe we suffocate before we get out. This room is tiny, if we seal it off and start digging then we might not make it depending on how far off the surface it is. With four of us…”
The staircase tunnel hadn’t stopped pouring in skeletons. If anything it had increased the rate it spewed them out. The only upside was that more were being knocked into the pool of water beneath the staircases.
Eva doubted going that way would be very feasible.
“Get working on it. I’ll hold the skeletons here. We can at least delay sealing this room.”
“You can handle it?”
Eva grinned at the blond. “If I can’t, I’ll be sure to make my death as loud as possible to give you some warning.”
She did not look impressed.
“While you’re back there, tell my mentor that if he wants to save any face at all, he’ll get up here and start helping.”
Juliana didn’t say a word as she left Eva’s side. The rocks floating in midair dropped to the ground at her departure.
Probably for the best. They wouldn’t have done enough against the massive horde approaching her shield. The shield itself, even powered by Arachne’s demonic blood, would only hold a few seconds under the skeletons’ assault without additional blood.
Eva had better ideas.
Without Juliana at her side, Eva felt more free. She pulled the blood from the remaining three and a half vials into a large orb floating in front of her.
The skeletons beat down on her shield. They piled up, each trying to get a swing in. They hit themselves more often than her shield, but it didn’t matter. Every skeleton that fell was replaced as a new one stepped in.
Eva twisted and tore at the blood, pulling and shaping until it looked like a wire ball. She grinned and thrust both of her hands into the ball from opposite ends.
Two large hands, each the size of Arachne, appeared in front of her. The shimmering black hands crashed into each other, crushing all the skeletons between them. With a sweep of her real arms, the hands swept out into the room. They left a trail of–sadly, unusable–black blood and bones in their wake.
They vanished along with the blood-wire ball in front of Eva. Skeletons and a few of the closer pews continued with their momentum, crashing into more skeletons and knocking a good number into the green pool.
That should buy a good thirty seconds, she thought with a grin on her face. She pulled open her satchel. Only fifteen of the half sized blood vials were in there, the other fifteen at home. Never enough blood. She used five refilling the core of her blood shield and readied the last ten for another attack.
Her demonic friend noticed the giant attack. Noticed it enough to be distracted. The skeleton pile got in a strike across her chest. Her own black blood leaked out as she howled at the skeletons.
“Arachne,” Eva called, “dump that thing in the pool of water then get back here. Master’s worthless and I’ve only got one good attack left.”
The demon did not respond. Not unless you count more howling and slamming her entire abdomen into the skeletons. The thing shattered and flew. It was already pulling itself back together.
Arachne crashed into it again. Not before an arm swung a sword and took out one of her legs.
“Arachne!”
The demon swept her abdomen across the floor. Bits of the skeleton pile flew off towards the watery pit. Arachne kicked some extra parts in with her remaining legs. Then she waited. She watched. She picked off any of the regular skeletons that came within reach.
The skeleton pile didn’t reform.
Slowly, the demon turned around. She looked far more exhausted than Eva could ever remember seeing her.
Arachne looked at Eva and grinned.
It wasn’t the best grin Eva had seen. Her sharp white teeth were marred by Arachne’s own black blood. The demon wandered back to Eva’s shield, shrinking as she went. She stumbled the last few steps and leaned against the wall.
Eva ran up to her, half-formed blood ball following at her shoulder. She placed a hand on the demon’s chest where a deep gash oozed blood. The two arrows that had pierced her stomach and shoulder had broken off at some point, leaving just stubs.
“You’re hurt,” Eva stated the obvious.
“Your blood wards did more damage to me in Florida. I’ll be fine.”
Eva frowned. She doubted that but didn’t know what else to do. Potions wouldn’t work on Arachne. They barely worked on herself. The demon had her own healing. Eva walked Arachne back into the small room and set to finishing her next spell.
“Why’s your arm off?”
Arachne’s question almost ruined the spell as Eva whipped her head around.